foolscap
/ˈfuːl.skæp/noun
foolscap is a noun meaning “Writing paper sheets measuring 13.25 × 16.5 inches” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-O-O-L-S-C-A-P and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 30 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of foolscap is foolscaps.
What does foolscap mean?
noun
- 1
Writing paper sheets measuring 13.25 × 16.5 inches.
- 2
Such a sheet folded or cut in half, thus approximately 8 × 13.25 inches.
- 3
Printing paper measuring 13.5 × 17 inches.
- 4
Alternative form of fool's cap.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce foolscap?
- US /ˈfuːl.skæp/
- US /ˈfuːlz.kæp/
- Canada /ˈfʊl.skæp/
Foolscap has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-foolscap.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of foolscap
- foolscaps plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is foolscap?
Foolscap appears about once in every 30 million words in written English, the 165,739th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you abbreviate foolscap?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of foolscap: fcp.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does foolscap come from?
Probably from a watermark of a fool's cap.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).